Reports Friday night stated another ‘Gun-Incident’ took place at a football game pitting the Oakland Raiders against their host Arizona Cardinals. Naturally, all the ‘Debby Downers’ had it as yet ANOTHER case of Raiders fans being Hoodlums, etc… However, as is with most news stories that jump right from ‘initial reports’ to ‘the hot press,’ this incident isn’t exactly what most football-fan-hoodlum naysayers will use to ‘beat the drum.’

According to Officer Tracey Breeden, the on-duty Public Information officer for the Glendale Police Department, a 9:30 PM local time altercation between two male individuals took place in the parking lot of the Hampton Inn, which is sometimes used as ‘overflow parking’ for games. The shooter, who immediately called the police once the incident took place, stated that it was accidental when he pulled out a gun and it fired. The victim of the shooting suffered what Breeden called ‘flesh wounds’ and not what were erroneously reported originally as ‘life-threatening injuries.’ The as yet unidentified shooter is in police custody, but is not under arrest at this time. Police are reporting the shooting victim will be ‘perfectly fine.’ Further non-factual reporting had the weapon as a shotgun when in fact it was a hand gun (caliber as yet to be identified), with the shot purported to be to the face – which has yet to be confirmed. Again, as soon as the words ‘Gun Shots’ ‘Victim’ and ‘Football Game’ come across in any order in short period of time, many folks in the media as well as the general public rush off in panic mode, not knowing the full story. This travesty of jumping to conclusions before all facts are in most definitely needs to stop. While it is a shame that an incident and injury occurred due to a handgun discharge adjacent to a sporting event, one should remember that until all facts are gleaned, jumping to conclusions may be bad to your health… from the strain it puts on your mind and your legs!